Psychedelic visual imagery in present-day music videos: what happens in a world where frets are clamped with a revolver

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34680/EISCRT-2026-2(15)-164-215

Keywords:

psychedelia, music videos, visual imagery, visual aesthetics, media sphere, media communications, mass media, altered states of consciousness, illusions, fantasies

Abstract

The article examines psychedelic visual imagery in music videos. The "psychedelia" concept, primarily associated with a certain class of psychoactive substances and the altered states of consciousness they cause, is studied as an attribute of the present-day media sphere. In relation to the subject, it manifests itself in the form of recognizable visual aesthetics. The article traces the origins of psychedelia as a broad aesthetic category. The author attributes this to the visual techniques of the 1960s, which filmmakers of that era used to cinematize the experience of psychedelically altered consciousness. The aesthetics formed at that time became eventually recognizable and, having lost its direct associations with the use of psychedelics, penetrated the media sphere, in particular music videos. The article reviews fourteen music videos released after 2000 that use psychedelic visual imagery. At the end, the data is systematized, and several theoretical generalizations are made regarding how psychedelia is represented in the present-day media sphere.

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Author Biography

Vadim Lapatin, Pushkin Leningrad State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Candidate of Philosophy, Associate Professor of Department of Advertising and Public Relations
e-mail: lapatin.vadim@gmail.com

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Abstract views: 34

Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

Lapatin, V. (2026). Psychedelic visual imagery in present-day music videos: what happens in a world where frets are clamped with a revolver. Experience Industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies, 2 (15), 164–215. https://doi.org/10.34680/EISCRT-2026-2(15)-164-215

Issue

No. 2 (15) (2026): Experience industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies

Section

Horizons